Disclaimer: I own none of them....
***************
Harry had begun to pace about his room.
If Uncle Vernon were to see him, he would say that Harry was mad. If Mrs.Weasley were to see him, she would say it was the simple slice of cheese he had received from Aunt Petunia for lunch. If Ron or Hermione were to see him they would say he was worried about something.
That was exactly right.
Not only was it two o'clock, but it was also pretty late. The Weasleys had promised to be there by noon, and two hours had long since passed. What if Uncle Vernon took away Harry's promise to be able to go with them? Unle Vernon wasn't aware of the Weasley Tardy Tendency, as Ron once put it, and he was also looking for any possible way to make Harry miserable. He sat down on his bed.
A minute later, without so much as a knock, Uncle Vernon stormed into his room.
"Where are those bloody..things?!?" he yelled furiously.
"I haven't the slightest-"Harry was cut off.
"They're your responsibility! Don't tell me you haven't got one bloody clue, or else!"
"Or else what?" Harry stood up, suddenly a lot more angry than when he started out.
"Or else I'll..."
"Nothing!" a voice said behind them.
Harry turned around to see Fred and George Weasley in his doorway, with a very grumpy looking Aunt Petunia just behind.
"Why you little...!" Uncle Vernon's face was turning a very deep shade of purple, and he looked about ready to jump on the boys.
"Oh!"Fred said absently."Sorry, meant no disrespect to you, sir." He gave a mischevious grin which Harry smiled at. "We just meant there's no reason to fight; we're here now."
Uncle Vernon didn't look very happy about this at all, as his last chance (for a whole year) to make Harry miserable was gone. He trudged out the door in a huff, headed straight for Aunt Petunia.
Fred and George moved toward Harry, one lifting his trunk, and the other lifting his owl, Hedwig, in her cage.
"Well, hello, Harry," George said, "How ya been?"
"As good as you can get in this place,"Harry muttered quietly.
"Can't say that would be too good, now would it, Fred?" George said, glancing at his twin.
"Nope, nope, nope," Fred said, shaking his head. "Oh, right! Happy birthday, Harry!" he said, slapping Harry's back.
"Happy birthday, that's right!"George agreed."But we'd best be off. If we're any later to the car Dad'll worry."
Harry nodded both happily and sheepishly as they proceeded to the stairs. Then he closed the door to number four Privet Drive without a goodbye to the Dursleys. He preferred it that way, and, he knew, so did they. ******************** Outside, Harry immediately recognized teh car parked in the driveway. It was the car him and Ron had been forced to fly (it was bewitched by Mr.Weasley) when they had missed their train to school in their second year. It looked all fixed now, but Harry knew it had problems flying long distances, and was therefore apprehensive about entering it. He climbed in, however, and found Mr.Weasley at the steering wheel with Ron in the backseat next to himself.
"Hello, Harry," Mr.Weasley said brightly. "Happy birthday! It's good to see you again."
"You too, Mr.Weasley,"Harry said, grinning.
"Happy birthday, Harry," Ron said.
"Hey." The smile on Harry's face couldn't get any bigger.
Ron, obviously sensing Harry's tension about the car, leaned in and whispered. "Don't worry, it doesn't fly anymore."
Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "Good thing,too,"he said and smiled again.
The ride to the Burrow (as the Weasley home was commonly referred to) was pretty long and considerably tiring, but only reminded Harry of his fondness for the Weasley clan. More than once the subject of school came up, hereby producing several groans at a time. Harry, however, did not participate, as he always found Hogwarts to be his true home. He began to think on this when a drifting thought woke him from his reverie.
"Is Hermione coming?"he asked Ron.
"Uhhh..."Harry saw Ron's cheeks go just the slightest shade of pink. "Yeah. I owled her and she wrote me back."
"So?"
"So what?"
"So when is she coming?"Harry asked.
"Today, I reckon." He looked down as he said it, and suddenly became very interested in the shirt he was wearing. The twins exchanged knowing glances (accompanied by devious grins), and Harry, fearing for his friend's life, decided to change the subject.
"Say, uh...is there any food? I'm starved,"he lied quickly.
"Well, there's no food in the car, sorry, but we're nearly home."Mr.Weasley turned around to smile."Don't worry."
Harry nodded shortly and began to stare out the window. Why was Ton starting to blush when he brought up Hermione? It wasn't like it was some strange girl or something, it was Hermione! Their best friend for five years now! Harry couldn't quite understand it. In fact, he didn't even want to bother with trying. It was probably just one of those days. Or maybe he was the one who was paranoid.
They arrived shortly at the Burrow, and Harry took one look at it and felt at home. He entered through the homey kitchen with Ton to find the stout Mrs.Weasley waving her wand at the sink to get the dishes done. As soon as she saw Harry, however, she gave him a tight, motherly hug.
"Hello, Harry dear!" she exclaimed."How are you? How have the Muggles been to you?"She said the latter with a slightly disgusted expression, not surprisingly. Mrs.Weasley had always hated the Dursleys.
"Well, I'm fine now,"Harry replied with a grin.
Ron stuffed an apple into his mouth and, before Harry could stop him, said, "He's starved, Mum."
"Oh, I knew it!"she cried angrily and sat Harry down at the table. "I knew they weren't feeding you properly! It's a good thing I have plenty of leftovers. Why didn't you tell me, Harry dear?"
Instead of replying, Harry shot Ron a look acroos the table. Ron sat there with his mouth stuffed, silently laughing at the scene before him.
Mrs.Weasley fed both boys until they almost exploded (or so it felt), then shooed them out of the kitchen. "Hermione will show up in the fireplace at any minute,"she said."Ginny and the twins are in there. Off with you both!"
Both boys entered the living room to find George, Fred, and Ginny lounging around.
"Hello there,"George said.
"Hey,"Ron said. "What's going on?"
"Ginny's still not talking to us,"Fred replied.
Ron turned his attention to Ginny."Oh, get over yourself and quit being such a huge bitch."
Ginny glared at him.
Harry couldn't help but be amused. "What happened?"he asked.
Now Ron was laughing along with the twins.
"Oh,"said Fred,"two days ago, Ginny brought home this boy."
"What was his name again, Ginny?"George asked. "Greg? Jake? Jason? Yes, that was it. Jason."
"Well, George and I just wanted to be hospitable hosts,"continued Fred, "so we offered him one of our homemade sweets." He gave Harry a horribly devious grin.
Harry was silently laughin. "I can guess the rest. Another Weasley creation?"
"Yeah, but this one was unlike any other we've ever made. This one grew your teeth out! Like, feet long! You should've seen this guy, Harry. It was...Oh, God, it was such a riot."
At this point, Ginny chose to pick her magazine (as well as herself) off the floor and started to leave.
"Oh, Ginny, don't go!" Ron said, doubled over with laughter.
She crept over to the couch where the boys were seated. She leaned in to the twins and hissed,"I would suggest you two grow up an stop being such fucking bastards."
"Ooooh,"Fred said, which prodded the twins to delve into even deeper hysterics. Ginny walked off, and by this time, all four boys were going crazy from the image of an unsuspecting boy with teeth growing like mad.
"My God,"Harry breathed."I take it he didn't come back here again."
"Nah, of course not,"George said."He was an asshole anyway!"he called to the stairs, which, Harry assumed, was a response to Ginny's leaving.
"But you really should've seen him,"Fred said."His teth were nearly down to his belt! He almost looked like Hermione!"
Ron stopped laughing briefly. "You mean the old Hermione."
"Yeah, so?" Fred replied. "What's it to you?"
"Nothing..I just.." Ron looked down from the twins' grins.
Before there was another word spoken, there was a poof in the fireplace and there Hermione stood. She had her hair unusually smooth today, and was in jeans and a baggy t-shirt. She had her trunk and her cat, Crookshanks, in his cage. She coughed up some soot from the fireplace.
"Well, hello everyone!" she said cheerily and stepped out of the fireplace. "Happy birthday, Harry!" she said and quickly hugged him. "Hello, Ron,"she said just a little more quietly. She hugged him slowly, almost awkwardly, and Harry saw the twins snicker. "Hello Fred and George,"Hermione proceeded. "What were you laughing at?" she asked curiously.
This once again prodded the twins into further laughter.
"It's nothing,"Harry said, eyeing Ron's reddening face."Let's go upstairs, shall we?"
"Why?"Hermione's brow furrowed. "Are you all right, Harry?"
"Yes, I'm fine, there's just something I wanted to talk to you both about."
Once they were safely up in Ron's room, Harry managed to relax a little. Ron was reclining on his bed reading a Chudley Cannons (their favorite Quidditch team) book. Hermione was looking around teh pigsty that was Ron's room.
"Honestly, Ron, you should really keep this place tidier,"Hermione said, examining the crowded floor."
"Why do you care?" Ron asked, not bothering to look up.
"It's for your own good," Hermione started in her bossy, teacher's pet sort of voice, but suddenly dropped it. "But just forget it. Harry, what is it you wanted to talk to us about?"
Harry, meanwhile, was experiencing momentary shock. Hermione Granger drop a fight with Ron Weasley? Give up an argument? And Ron was actually letting her? Harry thought the sky must've fallen, and he even glanced at the window just to be sure. This caused Hermione to ask him, "Harry, are you sure you're all right? Really?"
"Oh!" he said, coming back to life. "Yes, I'm fine."
"Then what was it you wanted to talk to us about?" Ron asked.
"Well, I had this dream a couple nights ago.."He told them all about the strange dream he had in the middle of the night a while ago.
"I think you should write to Dumbledore," was Hermione's instantaneous reaction.
"Jesus, Hermione, you're so predictable,"Ron said with a grin.
Hermione shot him a look.
"But I really don't find a reason to,"Harry said. "I mean, it was just a strange dream. It wasn't scary, and it didn't seem to have anything to do with Voldemort-"
"Can you please not say the name?" Ron asked miserably.
"With Voldemort,"Harry continued pointedly,"or whatever. It just felt out of place. Like I shouldn't've been having the dream."
"Exactly,"said Hermione."Don't you see the situation at hand, Harry? Anything strange, anything unusual, should be taken very seriously. I hope to God you've had the sense to tell Sirius."
Harry looked away embarassed.
"Oh, God, Harry, don't even tell me! You haven't even told Sirius? What have you been thinking?" Hermione shook her head in clear disapproval.
Harry turned to Ron for some support, but to his surprise, Ron was nodding in agreement. "She's right, Harry, you know it. You should've at least told Sirius."
"Fine, fine, fine, I'll tell Sirius,"he agreed reluctantly."But no one else! At least not now."
"Well,at least we've knocked some sense into you,"came Hermione. And she proceeded to bicker with Ron over how unhealthy the chips he was eating were.
Harry turned his attention to a window for what seemed like the zillionth time today. He also thought about how much things had changed, and haow some things never will.
********************* Ooookay, so sue me, I still haven't really entered the plot, but cross your fingers because it's coming soon! Please give me some feedback on the Ron- Hermione thing( the obvious romantic focus), because you know I love to hear it!
Harry had begun to pace about his room.
If Uncle Vernon were to see him, he would say that Harry was mad. If Mrs.Weasley were to see him, she would say it was the simple slice of cheese he had received from Aunt Petunia for lunch. If Ron or Hermione were to see him they would say he was worried about something.
That was exactly right.
Not only was it two o'clock, but it was also pretty late. The Weasleys had promised to be there by noon, and two hours had long since passed. What if Uncle Vernon took away Harry's promise to be able to go with them? Unle Vernon wasn't aware of the Weasley Tardy Tendency, as Ron once put it, and he was also looking for any possible way to make Harry miserable. He sat down on his bed.
A minute later, without so much as a knock, Uncle Vernon stormed into his room.
"Where are those bloody..things?!?" he yelled furiously.
"I haven't the slightest-"Harry was cut off.
"They're your responsibility! Don't tell me you haven't got one bloody clue, or else!"
"Or else what?" Harry stood up, suddenly a lot more angry than when he started out.
"Or else I'll..."
"Nothing!" a voice said behind them.
Harry turned around to see Fred and George Weasley in his doorway, with a very grumpy looking Aunt Petunia just behind.
"Why you little...!" Uncle Vernon's face was turning a very deep shade of purple, and he looked about ready to jump on the boys.
"Oh!"Fred said absently."Sorry, meant no disrespect to you, sir." He gave a mischevious grin which Harry smiled at. "We just meant there's no reason to fight; we're here now."
Uncle Vernon didn't look very happy about this at all, as his last chance (for a whole year) to make Harry miserable was gone. He trudged out the door in a huff, headed straight for Aunt Petunia.
Fred and George moved toward Harry, one lifting his trunk, and the other lifting his owl, Hedwig, in her cage.
"Well, hello, Harry," George said, "How ya been?"
"As good as you can get in this place,"Harry muttered quietly.
"Can't say that would be too good, now would it, Fred?" George said, glancing at his twin.
"Nope, nope, nope," Fred said, shaking his head. "Oh, right! Happy birthday, Harry!" he said, slapping Harry's back.
"Happy birthday, that's right!"George agreed."But we'd best be off. If we're any later to the car Dad'll worry."
Harry nodded both happily and sheepishly as they proceeded to the stairs. Then he closed the door to number four Privet Drive without a goodbye to the Dursleys. He preferred it that way, and, he knew, so did they. ******************** Outside, Harry immediately recognized teh car parked in the driveway. It was the car him and Ron had been forced to fly (it was bewitched by Mr.Weasley) when they had missed their train to school in their second year. It looked all fixed now, but Harry knew it had problems flying long distances, and was therefore apprehensive about entering it. He climbed in, however, and found Mr.Weasley at the steering wheel with Ron in the backseat next to himself.
"Hello, Harry," Mr.Weasley said brightly. "Happy birthday! It's good to see you again."
"You too, Mr.Weasley,"Harry said, grinning.
"Happy birthday, Harry," Ron said.
"Hey." The smile on Harry's face couldn't get any bigger.
Ron, obviously sensing Harry's tension about the car, leaned in and whispered. "Don't worry, it doesn't fly anymore."
Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "Good thing,too,"he said and smiled again.
The ride to the Burrow (as the Weasley home was commonly referred to) was pretty long and considerably tiring, but only reminded Harry of his fondness for the Weasley clan. More than once the subject of school came up, hereby producing several groans at a time. Harry, however, did not participate, as he always found Hogwarts to be his true home. He began to think on this when a drifting thought woke him from his reverie.
"Is Hermione coming?"he asked Ron.
"Uhhh..."Harry saw Ron's cheeks go just the slightest shade of pink. "Yeah. I owled her and she wrote me back."
"So?"
"So what?"
"So when is she coming?"Harry asked.
"Today, I reckon." He looked down as he said it, and suddenly became very interested in the shirt he was wearing. The twins exchanged knowing glances (accompanied by devious grins), and Harry, fearing for his friend's life, decided to change the subject.
"Say, uh...is there any food? I'm starved,"he lied quickly.
"Well, there's no food in the car, sorry, but we're nearly home."Mr.Weasley turned around to smile."Don't worry."
Harry nodded shortly and began to stare out the window. Why was Ton starting to blush when he brought up Hermione? It wasn't like it was some strange girl or something, it was Hermione! Their best friend for five years now! Harry couldn't quite understand it. In fact, he didn't even want to bother with trying. It was probably just one of those days. Or maybe he was the one who was paranoid.
They arrived shortly at the Burrow, and Harry took one look at it and felt at home. He entered through the homey kitchen with Ton to find the stout Mrs.Weasley waving her wand at the sink to get the dishes done. As soon as she saw Harry, however, she gave him a tight, motherly hug.
"Hello, Harry dear!" she exclaimed."How are you? How have the Muggles been to you?"She said the latter with a slightly disgusted expression, not surprisingly. Mrs.Weasley had always hated the Dursleys.
"Well, I'm fine now,"Harry replied with a grin.
Ron stuffed an apple into his mouth and, before Harry could stop him, said, "He's starved, Mum."
"Oh, I knew it!"she cried angrily and sat Harry down at the table. "I knew they weren't feeding you properly! It's a good thing I have plenty of leftovers. Why didn't you tell me, Harry dear?"
Instead of replying, Harry shot Ron a look acroos the table. Ron sat there with his mouth stuffed, silently laughing at the scene before him.
Mrs.Weasley fed both boys until they almost exploded (or so it felt), then shooed them out of the kitchen. "Hermione will show up in the fireplace at any minute,"she said."Ginny and the twins are in there. Off with you both!"
Both boys entered the living room to find George, Fred, and Ginny lounging around.
"Hello there,"George said.
"Hey,"Ron said. "What's going on?"
"Ginny's still not talking to us,"Fred replied.
Ron turned his attention to Ginny."Oh, get over yourself and quit being such a huge bitch."
Ginny glared at him.
Harry couldn't help but be amused. "What happened?"he asked.
Now Ron was laughing along with the twins.
"Oh,"said Fred,"two days ago, Ginny brought home this boy."
"What was his name again, Ginny?"George asked. "Greg? Jake? Jason? Yes, that was it. Jason."
"Well, George and I just wanted to be hospitable hosts,"continued Fred, "so we offered him one of our homemade sweets." He gave Harry a horribly devious grin.
Harry was silently laughin. "I can guess the rest. Another Weasley creation?"
"Yeah, but this one was unlike any other we've ever made. This one grew your teeth out! Like, feet long! You should've seen this guy, Harry. It was...Oh, God, it was such a riot."
At this point, Ginny chose to pick her magazine (as well as herself) off the floor and started to leave.
"Oh, Ginny, don't go!" Ron said, doubled over with laughter.
She crept over to the couch where the boys were seated. She leaned in to the twins and hissed,"I would suggest you two grow up an stop being such fucking bastards."
"Ooooh,"Fred said, which prodded the twins to delve into even deeper hysterics. Ginny walked off, and by this time, all four boys were going crazy from the image of an unsuspecting boy with teeth growing like mad.
"My God,"Harry breathed."I take it he didn't come back here again."
"Nah, of course not,"George said."He was an asshole anyway!"he called to the stairs, which, Harry assumed, was a response to Ginny's leaving.
"But you really should've seen him,"Fred said."His teth were nearly down to his belt! He almost looked like Hermione!"
Ron stopped laughing briefly. "You mean the old Hermione."
"Yeah, so?" Fred replied. "What's it to you?"
"Nothing..I just.." Ron looked down from the twins' grins.
Before there was another word spoken, there was a poof in the fireplace and there Hermione stood. She had her hair unusually smooth today, and was in jeans and a baggy t-shirt. She had her trunk and her cat, Crookshanks, in his cage. She coughed up some soot from the fireplace.
"Well, hello everyone!" she said cheerily and stepped out of the fireplace. "Happy birthday, Harry!" she said and quickly hugged him. "Hello, Ron,"she said just a little more quietly. She hugged him slowly, almost awkwardly, and Harry saw the twins snicker. "Hello Fred and George,"Hermione proceeded. "What were you laughing at?" she asked curiously.
This once again prodded the twins into further laughter.
"It's nothing,"Harry said, eyeing Ron's reddening face."Let's go upstairs, shall we?"
"Why?"Hermione's brow furrowed. "Are you all right, Harry?"
"Yes, I'm fine, there's just something I wanted to talk to you both about."
Once they were safely up in Ron's room, Harry managed to relax a little. Ron was reclining on his bed reading a Chudley Cannons (their favorite Quidditch team) book. Hermione was looking around teh pigsty that was Ron's room.
"Honestly, Ron, you should really keep this place tidier,"Hermione said, examining the crowded floor."
"Why do you care?" Ron asked, not bothering to look up.
"It's for your own good," Hermione started in her bossy, teacher's pet sort of voice, but suddenly dropped it. "But just forget it. Harry, what is it you wanted to talk to us about?"
Harry, meanwhile, was experiencing momentary shock. Hermione Granger drop a fight with Ron Weasley? Give up an argument? And Ron was actually letting her? Harry thought the sky must've fallen, and he even glanced at the window just to be sure. This caused Hermione to ask him, "Harry, are you sure you're all right? Really?"
"Oh!" he said, coming back to life. "Yes, I'm fine."
"Then what was it you wanted to talk to us about?" Ron asked.
"Well, I had this dream a couple nights ago.."He told them all about the strange dream he had in the middle of the night a while ago.
"I think you should write to Dumbledore," was Hermione's instantaneous reaction.
"Jesus, Hermione, you're so predictable,"Ron said with a grin.
Hermione shot him a look.
"But I really don't find a reason to,"Harry said. "I mean, it was just a strange dream. It wasn't scary, and it didn't seem to have anything to do with Voldemort-"
"Can you please not say the name?" Ron asked miserably.
"With Voldemort,"Harry continued pointedly,"or whatever. It just felt out of place. Like I shouldn't've been having the dream."
"Exactly,"said Hermione."Don't you see the situation at hand, Harry? Anything strange, anything unusual, should be taken very seriously. I hope to God you've had the sense to tell Sirius."
Harry looked away embarassed.
"Oh, God, Harry, don't even tell me! You haven't even told Sirius? What have you been thinking?" Hermione shook her head in clear disapproval.
Harry turned to Ron for some support, but to his surprise, Ron was nodding in agreement. "She's right, Harry, you know it. You should've at least told Sirius."
"Fine, fine, fine, I'll tell Sirius,"he agreed reluctantly."But no one else! At least not now."
"Well,at least we've knocked some sense into you,"came Hermione. And she proceeded to bicker with Ron over how unhealthy the chips he was eating were.
Harry turned his attention to a window for what seemed like the zillionth time today. He also thought about how much things had changed, and haow some things never will.
********************* Ooookay, so sue me, I still haven't really entered the plot, but cross your fingers because it's coming soon! Please give me some feedback on the Ron- Hermione thing( the obvious romantic focus), because you know I love to hear it!